What Do Mini Skirts Have To Do With Religion?

Imagine a hot summer month. Tourists are landing in droves at the Srinagar airport to escape the sweltering heat of their cities. Many are eager to rush out and breathe the pristine Himalayan air.

But just at the exit they are stopped and directed to the official clothier’s department where they first need to shed their ‘objectionable’ clothes and don ‘culturally appropriate’ attire.

Why? “So that the tourists don’t derail the locals from the right track,” is the reason given by Kashmir-based Jamaat-e-Islami.

It claims that women wearing miniskirts and other objectionable dresses are causing a “cultural aggression against the Kashmiri Muslims.” The Jamaat as a religious organization thinks it a duty to ‘protect’ their faith.

But since when did faith become measurable with a tailor’s tape?

The diktat is issued only for women tourists. Does it mean that the length of a woman’s skirt is the best indicator of her morality? Also, in corollary does it mean that a man’s morals are unquestionable?

The Jamaat says the Kashmiris are an innocent lot and purely devoted to their faith. Any outside influence could erode it. Now everyone knows whose language they speak. Kashmir was always about Kashmiriyat – where both Islam and Hinduism co-existed peacefully in their moderate and tolerant forms. Sufism has always been an integral part of the valley’s ethos. Even Hindus are not defined by vegetarianism. Such reconstruction of the state’s social milieu has been a part of well-though cross-border propaganda to radicalize the youth.

But let’s not forget, a person of any religion, considers his ideals to be paramount. His belief stands like a rock, withstanding all opposition and last a lifetime.

If indeed a Kashmiri Muslim’s principles are unquestionable, how can the sight of a woman’s knee and thigh shake his character?

Good fences make good neighbours?

Another reason given is that the Kashmiri Muslims are the hosts and that tourists should be sensitive to the hosts’ ethos.

Then why do the religious organizations ask for different treatment for Muslims when they emigrate abroad? France, which has banned the burqa, has done so to avoid overt displays of religious affiliations in public, and to make it simpler to conduct identity tests to facilitate order and peace. To keep public display ‘religion-neutral’ is the French ethos. Why do the Muslim leaders then pour out in streets demanding an apology from Paris?

And also what about our age old concept of “Atithi Devo Bhav”, where the host should make the guest feel at home, even if it means accepting her in her miniskirt?

Not Cultural Swamping

The idea is very much in force in countries like the UAE, where even citizens agree that tourists need to keep their heads covered and not show too much skin. Travel agents will tell you to wear “respectful clothes”, while travelling to the UAE and be extra cautious of what you wear during Ramzan, a holy month for Muslims.

Is Jamaat-e-Islami is trying to import the idea from there? Not really, because even in the UAE, it’s common for foreign women to wear their usual attire and drink in gay abandon.

There’s another crucial difference. The locals are a minority population in that country. Rest of it is made up of migrant workers. Their wish to protect their culture from being ‘swamped’ by outside influence holds much water than the Jamaat’s wishful reasoning; not to mention that the Jamaat cannot claim to be the guardian of a culture that it poorly understands. Their Wahabi values hold no ground in the state’s cultural identity.

Build Peace

Let’s not forget that peace is very fragile in the region. Tourists have returned to the valley after decades of violence. Such fundamentalists must not be allowed to have their say, especially when it’s patently nefarious.

In 2011, about 1.3 million tourists visited Kashmir. This year, too, the houseboats and hotels are packed to capacity. The holidaymakers have brought welcome business to the valley, otherwise wrecked by bloodshed and curfews.

Kashmir’s economy depends on its tourists. They bring jobs for thousands of disillusioned youth. The state can ill afford to lose its tourists. If the economy falters, it will be too easy for these radicals to disillusion the state’s youth further, and that’s what the separatists want.

The Jamaat’s warning that women wearing miniskirts would draw “angry reaction" from local extremists, will only further push away holiday makers. Such elements must be booked for spreading canards that can be potential public nuisance.

This is the right time to head out in force to the valley and tell the extremist forces that they cannot hold Kashmir to ransom. A flutter of a skirt cannot shake our faith.